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NEWS of increased funding to local hospices which give palliative care and succour to people with terminal diseases and their families has met with mixed reactions.

A one-off increase of 30% will be given to establishments such as St Kentigern Hospice in St Asaph under plans announced by health and social services minister Edwina Hart last Wednesday.

Ann Jones, AM for Vale of Clwyd, was happy to hear the news. “I realise how much people value hospices,” she said. “Many people have been asking for more funding and this Assembly Government has listened and is now delivering this extra support.

“The extra money comes on top of the £10 million the Assembly Government has already provided over the last 10 years.

“This promise was made last year by Welsh Labour and I look forward to seeing its positive effects.”

But Matt Wright, Conservative prospective parliamentary candidate for the Vale of Clwyd, believes the £2 million to cover the whole of Wales will be spread too thinly and describes the announcement as “a big let-down”.

“Thirty per cent of next to nothing is still next to nothing. It is also still a one-off payment rather than the recurrent core funding asked for and widely supported by the public,” he said.

“The management of our healthcare services appear to be lurching from bad to worse under the current regime.

“It was very clear and simple what our hospices were asking for. They simply wanted the core funding already given in England.

“They cannot plan properly from one year to the next without proper core funding and they rely almost entirely on donations from the public.”

St Kentigern will receive an extra £20,250 in 2008 on top of the estimated £67,500 funding they would normally get.